Senate Democrats are hoping to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Restoration and the Freedom to Vote Acts this week. Both bills are intended to guarantee one-party rule in America for generations to come.
Passage under the current Senate rules would require a 60-vote supermajority. Given unanimous Republican opposition to both bills, House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to “go nuclear” to get this done.
“Going nuclear” would require the approval of all 50 Democratic senators and Sens. Joe Manchin [D-WV] and Kyrsten Sinema [D-AZ] are not on board. Both have publicly announced their opposition to abolishing the filibuster.
In order to ram these bills through, “Democrats are weighing votes on reinstalling a talking filibuster or a filibuster exemption for voting legislation as alternatives to eliminating the 60-vote threshold entirely. But making those changes would require … a unilateral vote to change the rules on party lines,” according to Politico.
But Politico reported some even more interesting news on Tuesday; It turns out that “it’s not just Manchin and Sinema” who oppose the abolishment of the filibuster.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who is up for reelection in November, is undecided. He told Politico: “I’ve never been part of an organization where it’s really, really hard to do things. So, if there’s a real proposal, I’ll take a look at it and evaluate it based on what’s in the best interests of the country.”
Politico reports that Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is “seriously weighing” this decision. He said, “Part of the point of this week is for us to have a vigorous discussion as a caucus and a debate and understand what the proposal is. But I think passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Restoration Act and the Freedom to Vote Act is an urgent priority.”
According to Politico:
Some, like Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) like a talking filibuster but are “not crazy” about making an exception for voting rights. Meanwhile, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) says reform is needed but is promoting more modest changes. She cites the near-impossible odds the party faces in getting all 50 Democrats on board for changing the filibuster unilaterally, also known as the “nuclear option.”
Asked what she could support, Shaheen said she wants to put the onus on the minority to put up 41 votes to stop legislation rather than on the majority to find 60 votes to advance legislation. She’d also like to eliminate the ability of the minority to block bills from even being debated on the Senate floor. Those reforms probably wouldn’t be enough to allow elections reform legislation to pass given unified GOP opposition, but would chip away at the minority’s power.
“We’ll see what gets put in front of us. I think we need to change the rules” to advance elections legislation, Shaheen said. “I think it’s problematic that we [don’t] have the votes to do that.”
Shaheen’s colleague, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), is among the recent converts to endorse a change to the Senate rules to allow the elections legislation to pass by a simple majority. Hassan is up for reelection this year, and she and several other Democrats like Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada are incumbents embracing changes to the Senate rules.
“I support the talking filibuster,” Cortez Masto said Monday. “I think it’s time … not only do we need to restore the Senate to the time where we debate issues that are important to the country. But that the country gets to hear that debate.”
Senate Republicans filed bills on Monday evening that were intended to put Democrats on the spot in the event that the majority party tries to change the chamber’s rules. Schumer responded that he would allow floor votes on those GOP-backed bills at a simple majority threshold if Minority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to allow for passage of elections reform and voting rights legislation at a simple majority threshold. McConnell rejected that proposal.
We’ve all seen the videos of then-Sens. Joe Biden and Barack Obama expressing support for the filibuster.
But as the world’s greatest deliberative body debates these issues, it’s worth looking at where the majority of Democratic senators stood on the filibuster in April 2017, when the party was in the minority.
At that time, 61 senators, including 32 of the 49 who were either Democrats or Independents (who caucused with the Democrats), wrote a letter to then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and then-Minority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraging them to maintain the 60-vote threshold for the filibuster.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Chris Coons (D-DE) led the bipartisan group.
In a press release on her website, Sen. Collins said at the time: “This letter demonstrates that a majority of the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, can come together to protect an important tradition of the Senate that recognizes the rights of the minority and makes bipartisan legislation more likely. After the contentious and polarized debate of the past few weeks, I am hopeful that this letter indicates a new determination by a bipartisan group of more than 60 Senators to move forward to solve the pressing problems facing our nation.”
And Sen. Coons said: “Democrats want the Senate to work, and we are willing to partner with our colleagues across the aisle if we can get things done for the American people. We have a long way to go to heal the wounds between our two parties, but this letter is a small first step towards that important goal.”
“We are writing to urge you to support our efforts to preserve existing rules, practices, and traditions as they pertain to the right of Members to engage in extended debate on legislation before the United States Senate. Senators have expressed a variety of opinions about the appropriateness of limiting debate when we are considering judicial and executive branch nominations. Regardless of our past disagreements on that issue, we are united in our determination to preserve the ability of Members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor.
“We are mindful of the unique role the Senate plays in the legislative process, and we are steadfastly committed to ensuring that this great American institution continues to serve as the world’s greatest deliberative body. Therefore, we are asking you to join us in opposing any effort to curtail the existing rights and prerogatives of Senators to engage in full, robust, and extended debate as we consider legislation before this body in the future.”
Signers of 2017 Letter:
Democratic Senators
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Chris Coons (D-DE)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Angus King (I-ME)
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Ed Markey (D-MA)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Mark Warner (D-VA)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Republican Senators
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
John Kennedy (R-LA)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Ben Sasse (R-NE)
Luther Strange (R-AL)
John Thune (R-SD)
Thom Tillis (R-NC)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Todd Young (R-IN)
It was surreal to see Biden and Harris on Tuesday making the case for legislation that would end voter identification laws, legalize ballot harvesting, allow on-line voter registration and take away states’ rights to regulate their own elections, among other provisions, and telling Americans they’re doing this to save our democracy.
The same Democrats who flip-flopped from their April 2017 positions will undoubtedly flip-flop again if they should find themselves in the minority in 2025 with a Republican in the White House.
Democrats have no integrity. None. And the Biden Administration has been so careless that the American people are starting to notice.
Their days are numbered. And they know it.
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